Home
by Silver Sneasel
Summary: It had been her turn to do the inspecting, stepping slowly around him, breathing in his scent. So familiar, like her woods, like her territory, but different too. So much like her own species, so different at the same time. She was captivated by it.


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She stepped slowly, breathing in the damp, the dark. She sighed slowly, feeling the soft moss and old leaves beneath the pads of her paws. She glanced around, feeling the moonlight on her fur. Something flitted at the back of her mind, and she ignored it, letting the night take her in. She crouched, feeling the muscles in her legs tighten, the quick beating of her heart that reminded her just how alive the world around her was. She let a low purr flit through her body, fleeting, and sprang! Running through the trees, feeling them whip by, feeling the soft earth and leaves, buried stones and branches. She felt the breeze created by her own movement, brushing her whiskers, the edges of her ears. He heartbeat had quickened, a low drumming that told her just how fast she'd been going, just how long.

She felt her ears twitch back, and forth, catching the slightest sound, the sounds as she tore silently through these woods. She paused, just a step, listening. A low bubbling, maybe almost a hiss, a slight sigh. She turned, feeling the earth torn beneath her claws, and whipped towards the sound. She would recognize it anywhere, but especially in this place. She slowed, feeling the tension in her muscles released gently, felt the quick drumming of her heart as it refused to slow down with the rest of her body. She took a deep breath, stepping onto the soft sand, feeling a slight sinking as she padded towards the water. She sat down and looked over the creek. It had seemed so much larger so much time ago... Now, maybe, she could leap across it without the help of the rocks jutting out of the water.

She stood and stepped slowly across though, letting each of her paws lightly touch each of the stones. It would be simple now, to wade through the water. She was aware of the changes she had gone through, both of mind and of body. She stepped onto the other side and shuddered, feeling the damp on her paws, the water spray on her tail. Maybe it hadn't been so long ago... maybe it had been much longer than her mind would allow her to remember. She turned, standing and staring at the water. It had seemed so alien, so dangerous on this side, so long ago. She felt that prickle again, just below her shoulders, and sighed, laying down slowly. She had met him here, all those years... all of those changes, ago.

It had been almost instant, the bond that they shared. She had seen the cream colored creature crouched at the edge of the water, with darker paws, darker ears, half of his tail the same, each dark patch a russet brown, except the ears were black. She had crouched, and tackled the intruder, the invader of her territory. Or what had been her territory. His eyes widening at her exposed fangs, hissing breath. She had held him pinned. Now, compared to then, she had been no more than a kit, but she had been old enough, smelling the musk on him. She had stepped back, still wary. He had stood, slightly clumsy paws cutting holes in the damp sand, and stepped around her sitting form, marveling at her. She had snapped at him for batting at her tail, and he had backed away slowly, tail and head down. She remembered what she had done, the creek had still been slowed and blocked by the dam that those with long teeth and flat tails had built, large creatures with heavy brown fur. She could still smell them in the water... She had stared over the water, looking at her own reflection for a few seconds. Dark blue fur, with cream colored chest and mouth. Cream colored patch on her back, her front and back legs. Sharp cerulean eyes, wavered slightly by the moving water. Deep purple spots above her eyes, and between just the slightest spot of cream again.

She looked at herself in the water now, only to see reflected moonlight, and a scattering of colors as the water rushed her image away. The creatures with flat tails had moved further up, building in a safer place for their kits. They had moved long ago, although their scent still stuck in this place.

She had stood, glancing at the other cat, and stepping across the stones, as she had done just moments before... then, though, she had been much smaller. Much weaker. Crossing the water had still frightened her, as she could see that it had frightened him.

She lapped at the water for a few seconds, then stretched her back and glanced at the woods. She padded along a small path, one that she had to just let her body remember. There were no prints, there was no scent, to guide her now. She stopped, sitting and staring out at a small clearing. It would have been far too small for them now. She breathed deep, hoping that a slight scent would remain, but rain and snow, time, had washed it away.

It had been her turn to do the inspecting, stepping slowly around him, breathing in his scent. So familiar, like her woods, like her territory, but different too. So much like her own species, so different at the same time. She had paused and looked at his face, a slight scar running a line of missing fur from his ear down to his neck. He had displayed it proudly, the mark saying strength. That he had survived, weather winning or not, she never knew. A bright glint had caught her attention, and she had stared at the shining disk on his forehead. A beautiful oval, and when he moved his head, she could tell that he could tell. She was captivated by it.

She padded into the clearing, feeling the soft grass beneath her paws. Feeling it tear slightly under her claws, as she dug them into the dirt, and removed them slowly, releasing the scent of the earth and the grass. It had always been pleasing before, part of her mind felt surprise that is still was, after so long. After what had happened just a short ways away. It had been so long after their meeting, yet it felt like a much shorter amount of time.

He had stood slowly, looking for her approval, and stepped closer, lowering his head and rubbing against her, mixing their scents. She hadn't needed any more encouragement, lowering the front of her body into a crouch...

She stood, not realizing that she had lain down in the grass, and stepped out of the clearing, following the path that only her feet knew to follow. She felt a strong breeze, and turned, avoiding that place. She felt her way deeper into the woods, feeling the slight movement of air in her whiskers and fur. She turned, trusting her body instead of her mind. Something she had almost forgotten. She padded over to the small hole, and stopped, backing away. Something else had moved into this place, and had kits there.

Instead of leaving, like her kind often did after mating, he had lain down next to her, purring lowly and rubbing his head softly against hers. Her heart had still been thundering in her chest, her body still exhausted. She had curled, feeling his hot body against hers, and fallen asleep. When she had woken, there had been food. What little he could catch, but it was still there. Untouched except for the thin holes where his teeth and claws had broken through the skin and killed the creatures. She had eaten, stomach growling, until he had stepped back into what had seemed like a large field then. A few bleeding scratches on his body, a bite mark on his front leg, on his tail. He had rubbed against her body, urging her to follow him, and had led her to the small den. His strong scent overlaying the scent of whatever had been inside before.

She backed away from it now, instead walking across the small clearing that was stretched out in front of it, and crouching in front of the small pool that had lay nearby. She stared into the clear water, examining herself now. Her face thinner, arrow shaped. The cream color on her chest darker, and making it's way down her stomach. It covered the lower parts of her legs, and thin circles of it marked the deep burgundy of her body. Her whiskers were longer, her tails fur thinner near the front, and full and long nearer the end. The cream colored spots just between her eyes remained though, telling her what she was, and making her painfully aware of how she had changed over the years. She tilted her head slightly, looking at the dark pink of the inside of her ear. She licked a paw and smoothed back the fur on her head.

The kits had grown, two of them the normal color of her species, one male and one female, a third, the darker rare color, male. They had mated often, although they hadn't produced another litter, after the kits had left. She had paced, worried that her inability to produce another litter would cause him to leave. No male of her own species would mate with one who could not produce a litter. He had stayed, though saddened by her inability to breed, and comforted her. Instead strengthening his bond to her, and roaming the woods and hunting with her.

She stepped out of the clearing, and back towards the place where the wind blew so freely through the trees. A much larger field, they had been playing together in the grass, pouncing on one another, and darting, trying to get a grip on each others tails. Then she had been startled, alone, by a creature, one that didn't belong in these woods. It had attacked her, violently, and she had soon found herself in a strange place, smelling like the shining thing on his head, feeling like cold air and congested with too many sounds. She had looked up, and seen humans, tall and menacing, looking over her and muttering. There she had gotten a name by which they called her, an identity she could not shake after the gaining of her new form.

She had been alone. For the first time in almost as long as she could remember, he was not by her side. He was no where that she could see, no where that she was brought. She had done what the human had said, the other creatures around her calling him by the image of master. At times she had been almost happy. When she fought with the other creatures, it was a time where she was blind to her past, only focusing on what she could see. Her mind dissecting the situations, and learning and growing with the master. He had changed her, what her instincts told her was no longer relevant, only what he would command, and he was always right, and had always treated her well. At a point, she had felt her entire being changing, and he had seemed ecstatic. She had tried to hold on, but it was impossible as her body stretched, her mind changed, new instincts, new senses... she had changed, and looked at herself. Her coat from the deep blue it had been to the dark burgundy it was now. She had reveled in the new form, feeling how swiftly and silently her body moved, pleased at her new strength and speed.

It wasn't long after that she had seen him again, in the hands of a human. A battle, she hadn't recognized him at first, his form having changed too, and had pounced on him, pinning his body down and opening her mouth in the same snarl, hissing down at him, and then she had inhaled his scent, changed, but his alone, and she had jumped back, purring as he stood, examining her carefully. He had changed, the piece of metal on his forehead changing to a ruby red gem, his body much larger. He had grown as much as she had. She could still see the muscles under his fur, smell the scent of his body. He had proudly shown off new scars, but the one from his ear to his neck remained, showing her that it was him, after all of this time. She'd stood and rubbed against him, purring loudly, showing pure joy in seeing her mate. Forgetting the humans, they had proceeded in the rituals that had been created in their previous forms.

She turned out of the field, and stepped back in the direction she had come, pausing for a moment at the edge of the clearing, with the sweet smelling grass.

They had been placed together in a building, and spent weeks together, an open field had been provided for them to explore, even a wooded area that provided a private place for their mating. They had both been returned to the humans who called them their own, dragged away from one another, their heartbroken yowls falling empty and soundless on the humans ears. Months later, they had been returned to that place together, confused, but happy, ecstatic. It had gone like that, each time they were pulled apart, it was done through force. They were always returned to that place though, weeks or months later, and they shared their memories, of things they had done, of places they had both been.

She stepped to the edge of the water, moving too quickly for her to see her reflection, and looked up at the sky, the moon blocked out by the trees, the scent of the water cool and inviting.

She had been released, in that place, and she had been alone. Three days and two nights passed, her pacing and growling. Her master had stepped into the clearing with her, and she had stopped, looking at him. The expression on the masters face was enough. He wasn't coming.

She stepped across the rocks, and placed her paws in the prints she had made in the sand, sitting and staring down at the quickly moving water.

She had been taken to a healing place after she stopped eating, the master worried, making angry noises. Her own sorrow had left her without will. She had almost let herself die then, but the master had forced her to eat, to move. He had cleaned her, and taken care of the dirt that gathered between the toes of her paws. And finally she had moved. He had slowly taught her again, and she had survived. It had never been more than that though, surviving.

She lay down in the sand, on her side, and felt her heart beating, the sound of it slowing.

He had released her, here, so near the place where he had captured her. After so many more years, after she was unable to battle anymore. After she had been taken to a healing place again. The human there had told him what he could not sense.

She slowly laid her head down, letting her body relax. She shut her eyes, then opened them. A golden paw resting by her head. She glanced up, only her eye moving, seeing a thin line where fur was missing. She shut her eyes again, and released the last of the air in her lungs.

She was home.

XOX

I wanted to do a little work on descriptions, and I also had this in the back of my mind. I hope you liked it. She was a Liepard, and he was a Persian.

Thank you for reading.


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